39: Chapter 39 Jiang Feng, the Jiang in "Great Rivers and Lakes".

Jiang Jianguo had finally completely caught on.

He grabbed Liu Cuilan by the arm. "Old woman, there are still some odds and ends at home that need tending to. Let's go inside first."

"What odds and ends? Didn't Xiao Feng say there were people from the Tianshu Secret Society helping to tidy up?" Liu Cuilan was completely bewildered.

"I told you to go inside, so just go inside. Stop worrying and don't be a third wheel."

Jiang Jianguo shot her a look and insisted on dragging his wife toward the main building.

Li Hu, the chubby guy standing to the side, stared blankly; before he could react, he was hauled along by Jiang Jianguo. "Fatty, you come along too and go check out your room."

Although Li Hu was utterly confused, he sensed the subtle atmosphere. He quickly shrank his neck and followed them inside, looking back every few steps, his face full of the excitement of a gossip-monger.

The courtyard instantly went quiet, leaving only Jiang Feng and Jiang Shuyun.

Jiang Feng stood with his hands in his pockets, his posture casual.

It was the kind of absolute composure that only belonged to a top-tier powerhouse after shedding the game's flashy special effects.

There was no hint of ostentation, yet it carried an oppressive aura akin to a dimensional strike.

Jiang Shuyun looked at him, her breathing unconsciously softening.

"You..." "You..." The two spoke simultaneously, then stopped in tacit agreement.

Jiang Shuyun's ears grew slightly warm, and she took the initiative to break the awkwardness. "Let's have a formal introduction. My name is Jiang Shuyun—'Shu' as in to stretch, and 'Yun' as in the multitudes of living beings."

Jiang Feng nodded slightly, his voice calm. "Jiang Feng, the 'Jiang' as in great rivers."

"Jiang?" Jiang Shuyun paused for a moment before chuckling. "I thought you shared my surname, the 'Jiang' as in ginger."

The night breeze brushed through the courtyard, and the psionic vegetation shimmered with a faint light. The atmosphere was unexpectedly harmonious.

"What were you going to say earlier?" Jiang Shuyun blinked and asked tentatively.

"Nothing much. I was just going to ask for your name, too." Jiang Feng replied casually. "The pronunciation is the same; that's quite a coincidence."

Jiang Shuyun couldn't help but smile.

Having spent so long in the treacherous business world, she found Jiang Feng's steady, open, and clear-headed nature to be exceptionally refreshing.

While they were talking, Jiang Shuyun's gaze shifted, and she glanced toward the second-floor window of the main building.

Jiang Feng turned his head and saw three heads "swish" back behind the curtains.

With his attribute perception reaching the millions, the suppressed breathing of his parents and the fatty sounded like drums beating right next to his ears.

He shook his head with a smile.

"Are you free tonight?" Jiang Shuyun took the opportunity to extend an invitation. "Come over to my place for a bit, and we can finalize the details of tomorrow's transaction."

"Sure." Jiang Feng agreed readily.

Even though he was used to acting alone, there was no harm in occasionally engaging with high-level circles.

Back inside the house, the old couple and the fatty were sitting bolt upright, staring blankly at the television, which wasn't even turned on.

"Xiao Feng, who exactly is that young lady?" Liu Cuilan couldn't hold back anymore.

"A business partner. We met in the Magic Domain." Jiang Feng pulled out a chair and sat down, giving a simple reply.

For the next half hour, he was subjected to a full-blown interrogation.

Jiang Feng only told them he was lucky in the game, managed to latch onto a hidden class player, and earned enough high-level materials to trade for this house.

As for the fact that he could wipe out a hundred thousand monsters with a single slap, he didn't say a word, so as not to worry his parents.

Li Hu's eyes lit up as he listened, and he practically launched himself off the sofa. "Brother Feng! I knew you weren't an ordinary person! From now on, I'm following you. Wherever you point, I'll strike—no questions asked!"

Jiang Feng glanced at him.

He and Li Hu had grown up together; the guy was straightforward and reliable.

As his own operations expanded, he would indeed need a trusted right-hand man like him.

"Fine. Contact me when you log on tomorrow." Jiang Feng said, dropping the topic.

At seven-thirty that evening, Jiang Feng stepped into Manor No. 6 in the Eighth District.

Jiang Shuyun had changed into a beige loungewear dress, which made her look less cold and more gentle.

Her parents received him warmly. When Jiang Shuyun's father shook Jiang Feng's hand, his eyelids couldn't help but twitch wildly.

There wasn't a shred of energy fluctuation on this young man, yet he possessed an imposing aura of stillness and depth that he had only ever seen in the military's own nation-protecting marshals.

The two elders were extremely tactful; they made an excuse to go for a walk and slipped out, leaving the space to the two of them.

On the second-floor terrace.

"Jiang Feng, your one-hit elimination of a hundred thousand heretics at the East Sea defense line today has already alarmed the highest levels of the military."

"But this wave of monster riots wasn't that simple."

Jiang Feng tapped his fingertips on the table. "The Abyss Sect's doing?"

"The Skinners are just a front."

Jiang Shuyun's eyes turned cold. "The Tianshu Secret Society investigated to the end and discovered that several major Western powers had formed a secret alliance, colluding with an Abyss Lord in an attempt to deplete Huaxia's high-end combat strength."

"If not for your breakthrough strike, which was akin to a dimensional reduction attack, international public opinion would be fiercely disparaging the Huaxia defense line by tomorrow."

Jiang Feng's expression didn't change in the slightest.

Western alliances, Abyss conspiracies—in the face of absolute numerical dominance, they weren't even worth a laugh.

"Then what do you think I should do?"

Jiang Feng asked calmly. His tone was level, but he wasn't actually asking for guidance out of helplessness; rather, he was intentionally testing her, wanting to see just how expansive the vision and perspective of this queen of the business world really were.

Jiang Shuyun straightened up instantly, her eyes sharp and resolute. "Your current combat power is already the ceiling of this world. You must not join any faction and let yourself be bound by rules. Your daily resource output alone rivals the national treasury. You can leverage the channels of the Tianshu Secret Society to forge a loyal, direct legion of your own and stand as an independent power."

She looked Jiang Feng straight in the eye, her tone firm. "Logistics, sales channels, resource exchange—I'll handle it all. You need a chief steward, and I am the most suitable candidate in the entire server."

Jiang Feng smiled.

Direct and decisive.

For him, the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks.

He had no intention of attaching himself to any faction. Even though he had his own considerations for the path ahead, he firmly believed that his own strength was sufficient to clear any obstacle.

As for Jiang Shuyun, her position in Jiang Feng's mind was very clear—she was a reliable, long-term trading partner.

After all, the sheer volume of resources he held was staggering; he needed to firmly secure a stable, top-tier channel to monetize them efficiently.

"Very well. Happy to be working with you." Jiang Feng raised his teacup.

"Happy to be working with you." A flash of irrepressible joy passed through Jiang Shuyun's eyes.

... On the outskirts of the Fallen God Wasteland, the intense heat from the lava lake continued to roast the black sand.

Li Yan stood ramrod straight, his shoulders covered in ash.

For eight full hours, he had led his elite squad in waiting here stubbornly, without even blinking an eye.

His adjutant stepped forward quickly and lowered his voice. "General, an urgent transmission from the capital! A mysterious big shot has just moved into the Tianshu Dragon Garden. Old General Zhang Changlin has personally confirmed that this person's aura is unfathomable. He suggests we go pay our respects as soon as possible."

Li Yan frowned and waved him off. "No matter how high the rank of that person in the Dragon Garden is, at most, they're just a nation-protecting level commander. The one in front of us is a living legend who can wipe out a fourth-tier wasteland with basic attacks! They're two completely different things!"

"We'll go to the Dragon Garden in a couple of days. For now, everyone keep your eyes glued to this dragon!"

Li Yan had no idea that the two were the same person.

In his subconscious, a god-like figure capable of riding an Ancient Ancestral Dragon and unleashing nuclear-level explosions with a wave of their hand had to be an ancient monster that had been in seclusion for centuries. How could they possibly be living in the Tianshu Dragon Garden?